Should Quincy Public Schools Hold Random Drug Tests?

Today marks the first day of school for the Quincy Public School District, and with it will come decisions to be made by the School Board on a variety of issues. One such issue is random drug testing of students. The Board will meet at Ellington School at 7 p.m. tonight to discuss the drug testing issue.

Right now the Board is considering just testing students who are involved in extra- curricular activities and not the whole student body. The issue was presented to the agenda by school Superintendent Steve Cobb. According to an article in the Quincy Herald Whig, Cobb is not advocating random drug testing but he would like to get board members thoughts on the idea and eventually those of the public. The random drug testing issue came before the board a few years ago and was voted down.

Cobb also indicated in the article that he has not actually seen evidence that drug use is on the rise in the schools but he wants to bring awareness to the fact that the Quincy school district has no tolerance for drug use although the Board currently has no policy on the issue either.

So what is the School Board to do? I feel if you are going to hold random testing, it ought to be for all students, not just those involved in extracurricular activities. No parent wants to hear that their child is taking drugs, but it just might be better to find that out early than wait until they become totally addicted. What are your thoughts?